National Minimum Wages Rules define sleep in time as working time that is required to be compensated. Any employee sleeping over at night in a residential site or facility, but ready to attend to an emergency work required to be done is entitled to be paid under Working Time Regulations 1998.
Unite, the
Last December, the Employment Appeal Tribunal had ruled that the time spent at the residential care home at night was to be included in payment of wages to the employee as per Minimum Wages Act. Citing this case, Rebecca McGuirk, a partner at law firm Shoosmiths has advised that each case needs to be examined carefully with all facts and details. She hinted that there may be room for manipulation.
Rachael Maskell, National Officer -Not for Profit Sector found that a mental health charity at Glasgow underpaid its employees and flouted the rules put down by the NMW.
It is estimated that about 170,000 UK charities not adhering to the norms and regulations in this area of employee compensation.
It is an irony that charities, which are involved in helping people, are not paying their employees properly.
Employers can keep themselves up to date with employment relations developments with a CIPD-accredited qualification; the Certificate in HR Practice (CHRP) and the Certificate in Employment Relations, Law and Practice (CERLAP). Both CIPD courses are taught on a fast-track basis by Workplace Law Training offering a combination of classroom and internet-based self-study – click CIPD Distance Learning for more information.
